St. Patrick's Day

Holidays this year have become so fun as Lucia anticipates each one a little more as a special day.  Of course for me, they are just an excuse to make something!

This is the Hopscotch Dress by Oliver + S out of one of my maternity shirts.  I've pinned so many interesting uses of stripes over time (like this one), I kept this shirt around waiting for the opportunity to play with stripes.  This was the perfect excuse.

I love this pattern because it's super easy.  I put it together the night before (using the shirts hems and sleeve finishes helped too).  But here you can see how easy it is to wear too.

Valentine's Day 2013

DIY Valentine's with a two-year-old.

1. Print hearts and any words you like on card stock.
2. Fuse fabric to cardstock using double sided fusible interfacing, such as Steam-A-Seam Lite.  (Give the little one some fabric options.)
3. Cut out your hearts.
4. Go crazy with fabric paints and googly eyes.
5. Admire.  We loved making our monster valentines.

Christmas Crafts: Last minute gifts

I'm pretty notorious for giving gifts after the event and this Christmas was no different.  Despite starting earlier and making, what I thought, was a reasonable gift list, life caught up with me.  So here in one post are the rest of the gifts...some came on time and some a little later.

First off is Elena's stocking.  I knew I couldn't let her first Christmas pass without making her a stocking.  Stockings  are the best!  As you can tell, I used the same pattern I used for all of ours.  I also used a similar fabric as the Lucia's (far right).  It's actually a cafe curtain from Superbuzzy.  I really like the fabric because the border print is fun and the fabric itself is really nice.  The only downside is that it has holes along the top for the curtain rod.  On Lucia's I cut out the batting and it let the lining show through, but it looks odd.  So I just let the batting show on Elena's.   The other funny thing about this fabric is that Lucia is convinced it has little "baby Jesus's" all over it.  I think it's hilarious that she thinks the matryoshka dolls look like baby Jesus.   

Here's a picture of the lining.  It's a fun pink polka dot seersucker someone gave me. 

This is the other gift I barely got done before Christmas.  In fact, I think I wrapped it before it was hemmed.  The pattern is Simplicity 1721 and the fabric is a great flannel from Momen+.   This is the closest I could get to getting a modeled shot of the pants.  

                   

Some more lovies for my youngest nieces and nephew.

The tails are my favorite part.

And an apron for Lori, modeled here by Lucia.  I used a fun dishcloth from Anthropologie I got for my birthday and the pattern is the free apron pattern on Sew Liberated.  It is a great, easy pattern and it goes to show you that Meg really knows kids--Lucia can put it on by herself.

And, finally, a craft bag for Vayda.  The fabric is Crafty Chloe by Heather Ross.  I sent Vayda the book for her birthday and word on the street is that she LOVES it (I need to order if for Lucia soon).  Inside the bag I included supplies for Vayda to make this.

That's it for Christmas gifts.  I know, it's March.  I need to catch up on my blogging, I have a lot of things to show and tell.

Christmas Crafts: Lucia's Backpack

I've been wanting to make Lucia a backpack for a long time.  Christmas was the perfect occasion.

The fabric, Ukulele by Heather Ross, is perfect, both for the bag and for Lucia.  One of her favorite things is playing the guitar with her dad.  So awhile back he bought her a real, nice ukulele.  I thought it was a little much for a two year old, but she has not only learned how to strum, she has also learned respect for the instrument (most of the time) and tune it (haha).

Back to the bag.  The pattern is the toddler backpack by Made by Rae using the backpack instructions from the Oliver + S Little Things to Sew book.   I bought the pattern before she added the lining instructions, so with the new pattern that should be all you need.

This was definitely the most rewarding sewing I've done recently.  The look on her face when she opened the gift was priceless.  And the first words out of her mouth... "my fabric"... even more priceless.

Christmas Crafts: Lucia's Dress

Do you ever see a sewing pattern and a piece of fabric that you think just HAVE to go together?  This was one of those times for me.  I can't remember which I saw first but once I had the idea in my head I just had to do it and I knew it would make the nicest Christmas dress.  But I was also having one of those times when I couldn't spend any extra money on sewing.  So, back in October when Oliver + S was having their 50% off paper patterns sale I bought this one.  And then on Small Business Saturday I ordered the fabric from Purl Soho, it was all coming together.

The fabric is "Green Peaceful Cooing" a Nani Iro double guaze from Summer 2012.  I need to do a whole post on my love for Nani Iro fabrics by Naomi Ito--these fabrics never stay in my stash long.  I love this one in particular, the border print and the color worked perfectly for what I wanted.  The print reminds me just a bit of popcorn--another Christmas tradition.  And guess what, I just read that emerald is the Pantone color of 2013, so maybe she can wear this dress beyond the holidays.

The pattern is the Oliver + S Fairy Tale Dress.  I wondered if the pattern was really worth purchasing because I was sure that there was something similar in my stash or in an Ottobre magazine somewhere. But I should have know that like all of their other patterns, Oliver + S makes it special.  As others have commented, this dress is quite intricate and involved.  I love the little details, like the self-facings on view B.

I made a size 4 for Lucia and decided to leave off the waist darts because in many ways Lucia still has a toddler's belly (which I love).  Liesl has a nice blog post on how to modify the bodice to accommodate this but I noticed that the smallest sizes don't have the darts so I fit the bodice muslin without them and it was perfect.  I didn't end up adding extra fabric to the skirt either, so it is a little less full than the original.

I think the most time consuming thing about the pattern is all of the hand sewing.  But that actually ended up creating one of the best memories for me.  I got to sit on the couch and sew it while Lucia sat next to me sewing some lacing cards.  She also "made" me a Christmas dress several times using a dishtowel.  And then she went around church on Christmas Eve and told everyone that I had made her dress.  The best part of all of this is that she is learning that such things are made by people and that if she wants to do that someday she can.

Anyway, the only thing I really regret in making this dress is that I wasn't careful enough with the collar to make sure the undercollar didn't stick out and that made the left collar flip up.  It was an easy fix when I noticed it, but it was too late at night to care.  (That's when you know you should go to bed.)  I tacked it down in the end and it is better after it was washed, so in the end it wasn't too bad, but lesson learned...

I definitely have plans to make this pattern again.  In fact, I have the perfect fabric in my stash to make one for Elena's first birthday--this time with the petal sleeves.

Christmas crafts: Elena's Dress

I had every intention of blogging my Christmas crafts as I completed things, before Christmas.  But here we are and I'm just starting.  At least it is still Christmas season, right?

I actually had Elena's Christmas dress finished, all but the last bit of hand sewing, done before December 1.  

The pattern is the Oliver + S Bubble Dress.  It's the second time I make a dress from this pattern, the first was for Elena's baptism.  The skirt looks so long that when I made the first one for her I actually cut off about five inches.  Then when I put it on her, five minutes before (or maybe after) I was supposed to leave the house you could see her diaper out the bottom.  I almost did it again this time, but resisted the urge, and in the end it was perfect.

The fabric came from Superbuzzy a long time ago.  I think it's a Tefle from Kokka.  The buttons are really lovely too, although it is hard to tell from the picture.  They belonged to an aunt of a friend of mine who used to have a sewing business.

Here's a little sneak peak at Lucia's dress, that post is coming up next.

Open for Business

That's right.  I did it.  Margee Slim now has a Etsy shop: mslimdesigns.etsy.com.

I've wanted to do this forever.  I'm starting small, with just one product on offer: french press covers.  I'm so excited to get it off the ground.

If you use a french press (and if you drink coffee, you should), you need this.  I designed this cozy over 5 years ago out of a need to keep my coffee hot.  Inspired by the traditional tea cozy, I designed it with an opening at the top so it can sit on the french press even while the coffee is brewing--who want's their coffee to get cold while it brews?

Over the past 5 years I have made many more for friends and tweaked the pattern a little bit at a time until I got it just right.  Each cover is one-of-a-kind.  I start with a genuine coffee sack and cut it down to it's most interesting parts--usually focusing on the company's printing.

I then decide if it will be pieced with a cotton print or left on it's own.  Behind the top layer is a layer of muslin to keep the batting from poking through, then a layer of cotton batting and then a layer of Insul-brite.  I then machine quilt those four layers in some interesting and complementary pattern.

Finally, I choose a complementary lining fabric and sew that in so all of the seams are enclosed.  You can see the lining fabric along the bottom as it also binds the base of the cover.

In the shop now are the first 7 covers available:

Four feature the coffee sack they are made from.

The other three include more intricate features.  

Red and White:

African print hexagons (hand sewn):

Appliqued poppy:

HUGE thanks go to Libby again for designing my etsy header.  We're working on labels next.   And thank you to Katie for letting me use her photo for my profile picture and the butterfly inspiration.

And, because I just can't help but include a photo session outtake shot.  Here's Lucia when she got tired of not being the center of attention.